40-year-old man with AIDS is getting blood stem cell transplant to treat leukemia in 2007 he suffered. Apparently it's not just the same donor blood type, but also affects the genetic mutation that provides natural resistance to HIV (the virus that reduce the human immune system). Now, three years post-transplant, people with AIDS showed no symptoms of leukemia or HIV infection.
"Therapy is quite interesting and provide evidence of cure HIV, but the method is too risky to be a standard therapy, even if a similar donor can be found," said Dr. Michael Saag, former chairman of the HIV Medicine Association, a medical organization that specifically deal with AIDS therapy.
Transplantation of bone marrow or stem cells, which lately is mostly done, has been widely used in cancer therapy, but if done on healthy people, doctors do not yet know the risks. The therapy will destroy the body's natural immune system with drugs and radiation and then replace it with donor cells to grow new immune system. "The failure or risk of complications of this method reaches 5 percent or more," says Saag.
That's why the use of such methods in a healthy person does not become the primary choice considering the risks are great, especially if the drugs are still able to maintain the condition of people with HIV. "It could be an exception if a person with HIV also suffer from cancer. Transplantation could be considered," he said.
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